Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Root ZERO
by Typing Jayla
Summary: Relena is kidnapped by a man who who has major plans for her, plans that will change the whole solar system. Its origins lie on Mars, where the Terraformation Project has gone frighteningly quiet. Rated M for violence. Post EW. Follows canon timeline. Plot driven. HeeroxRelena pairing, with others mentioned.
1. Waiting

**Synopsis:** Relena is captured by a man who is obsessively in love with her, who has major plans for her, plans that will change the whole solar system. Its origins lie on Mars, where the Terraformation Project has gone frighteningly quiet.  
><strong>Rated M:<strong> For violence and the occasional bout of colorful language.  
><strong>Pairings:<strong> Heero and Relena mostly, others indicated later on._  
><em>**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything to do with Gundam Wing, aside from being a resilient fan for many, many years. Also this story was concocted entirely from the recesses of my brain. If it bares any resemblance to other work (GW related or otherwise); please know that it was entirely unintentional.

**Please read in 1/2 (looks nicer).  
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><p>Gundam Wing Root ZERO<p>

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><p>Chapter One Waiting<em><br>_-  
><em>After Colony 199 – December<br>_

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><p>Relena Darlian stared into Lady Une's glassy eyes, they stared unblinkingly back at her. Relena had seen people die in front of her before -her own adoptive father had passed away right beside her- but somehow Lady Une's death shook her deeper, and sent a sharp pain across her heart. The woman had always seemed solid, a strong pillar. She had fought in so many battles, not always for the right side, and had emerged victorious every time. She had been shot before and lived. To see her crumpled form now, with those unseeing eyes staring at Relena, was a blow she wasn't prepared for.<p>

Only a few years ago, Relena would have leapt with joy at Une's passing, but not now.

Not after everything.

Relena leaned down as far as she could and pressed her forehead against Une's cheek. She liked to believe she could feel a whisper of breath leaving the Lady's slightly parted lips.

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><p><em>Une's last breath replayed itself vividly in Relena's memory, much as her father's had. The bullet wound had ripped straight through her back and burst out of her stomach, a spray of blood following. The woman had collapsed to her knees, clutching her stomach as if her life leaked out of the wound with every second and maybe holding her hands in front of it could pause the flow. It didn't. She fell sideways, curled into the foetus position. Relena reached out for her, uttering a distressful cry, her wrists bound together with plastic straps. Relena had crawled on her knees towards Une -her vision blurred with tears- not caring about the blood that now soaked her formal cotton pants.<br>_

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><p>"You don't seem happy, Relena." A voice spoke. It had only been moments since Une had died, but it felt like an eternity, so long that the voice that spoke was barely recognisable as the man who killed Lady Une.<p>

Relena lifted her gaze; glaring so furiously at the man that her teeth clenched together as she struggled to not to scream. The man was infuriating to even look at, she never before thought she could hate a single person as much as she did now; especially with that hurtful expression marring his own features.

"I did you a favour, Relena. You finally have your revenge!" Samael Wolfos exclaimed; clapping his hands together, the pistol in his left hand giving a dull _tink_ with the contact. "The circle is complete."

Samael Wolfos was a corporate head and one Relena almost trusted if he were not the single leader of a space mining corporation. Relena had met Samael on a number of occasions. While colourful, he had seemed genuine and affectionate with everyone he spoke too. He was either in his mid 40s or early 50s. His skin was thin and pale and he had a crooked nose, his soot black hair with ashy grey streaks lining his temples was pulled back into a tight ponytail. He dressed elaborately, as if he were royalty. No doubt he believed he was. An excited blush had risen to his high cheekbones, paling the rest of his features.

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><p><em>Half an hour earlier; Relena and various other political officials had gathered for a social event, hosted by Samael himself, to celebrate continuing peace efforts and total disarmament. When the darkly clad men burst into the room, with the smell of coppery blood following them; and a brief view of the destruction to the men who had once been the guards stationed around the premises, everyone had been rounded up, forced on their knees and bounded. Samael Wolfos, the only remaining member unbound, swirled dramatically and had eyes only for Relena, his gaze one of a man seeking the approval of his performance. <em>

_Samael had then strode to Relena in her kneeling position, getting intimately close to her face and whispering; "I have a present for you."_

_Lady Une had then been brought in, bound, gagged and blindfolded, dressed in her Preventers uniform. She had looked sedated, her groans of discomfort slurred. The men who had dragged her in released her arms and removed the blindfold, in that time Samael had waltzed behind Une, withdrawing an incredibly decorated pistol from the inner folds of his jacket, aimed, and fired a round straight into Lady Une.  
><em>

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><p>"What would make you believe I wanted this!" Relena cried out, struggling to contain enough of her senses to face Samael.<p>

Samael giggled, actually giggled a high and delighted sound, and said; "Oh Relena, you are a delicate flower indeed, but a sly one as well. You can't pretend to me."

He was delusional, but clever; an incredibly dangerous combination. Not many people could overpower Lady Une and drag her as docilely as an obedient pet. Not many people could organize an event so detailed.

When Relena failed to give an obvious 'Oh, you got me!' expression Samael's features softened affectionately, a smile playing across his lips and his eyes twinkling warmly. With a flick of his head, the two guards that had brought Lady Une in grabbed Relena's upper arms and dragged her into a standing position. Blood started flowing into Relena's legs again, giving her feet pins and needles, but she ignored it, determined to face Samael without fear or weakness.

Samael approached her and, again, stood far too close to her. He reached down and clasped her bound hands in his; "I knew. You're too pure to kill someone on your own. You're just too perfect. I know that your beautiful heart could never allow you to kill the woman who killed your adoptive father –bless his heart- but I know you wanted it."

"What are you talking about?" She exclaimed angrily, but Samael didn't answer. He smiled sympathetically, and disgust and bile rose in Relena's throat as he released her hands and slowly wrapped his arms around her, holding her lightly as if afraid he would break her if he held her too roughly. He inhaled deeply, smelling her hair, heightening her nausea.

"I did it for you, Relena." He said, "And now, my dear, you owe me."

All at once, Relena's stomach plummeted, her heart hollowed and her entire body felt cold. Her mouth felt dry and a bitter taste settled on her tongue. Samael mistook her shiver of disgust for something else, and dared himself to squeeze her a little tighter; she could feel his smile as he nuzzled her loose hair. "I have such big plans, Relena. I've been waiting for such a long time for you to be ready. And you are, my dear, you really are."

He released his hold on her abruptly, stepping back so suddenly she half expected him to raise his pistol and blow her away, but he didn't. His face had changed though, from the sickeningly adoring expression to a severe one, he waved at the men around the room like a musical conductor; "We're leaving. You know what to do."

Samael approached Relena, and gently linked his arm through hers. With an encouraging smile he strode to a door that led away from the carnage the men had arrived in. And suddenly the room was filled with noise again. When the bullet had torn Lady Une apart, the whole world had fallen silent, as if it was just her and Samael. Now Relena finally noticed other sounds. People were crying, someone begged at Samael, but he brushed them aside and ignored them as if they weren't even there.

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><p>He unlinked their arms to hold open the door for her, motioning with his free arm for her to go first. Relena glared at him, but he didn't notice it, and stepped through, quickly looking around her. She stood in a hall she didn't recognize, with corridors leading off to different areas of the building. Samael had hosted the party, and had rented out the entire building; it was entirely empty except for the celebrating politicians. Looking back, Relena wondered why she didn't think of it as strange that he had demanded such privacy.<p>

Samael closed the door with a gentle click, and a sudden orchestra of gunfire reigned from the other side, barely muffled by the closed door. Brief screams followed, and then more gunfire. In seconds, the room fell silent. A rush of emotion flooded Relena; sorrow, regret, fear.

But something else coursed through her now; panic induced adrenaline. She felt it similar to the sensation of a space craft pummeling down the runway and lifting up into the sky. Her heart thrummed in her chest desperately, causing her arms and legs to feel loose and ready.

It was a choice of fight or flight. Relena wasn't in the situation to fight.

If she didn't take advantage of the adrenaline now she was never going to escape.

Samael had been speaking, but she had been entirely distracted by this sudden onslaught of adrenaline. As he stepped closer to her, his arms held open wide as if to embrace her again, she rammed her shoulder into him, throwing her whole weight against him. Samael was thin, small, and barely taller than Relena herself; the impact threw him harder than a man of your average build. He stumbled back into the door, and it flew open. His pistol fell to the floor in front of her. Relena, not daring to look inside the room, grabbed the door handle with both hands when it recoiled off of the wall and slammed it closed. She kicked his pistol away, not caring where it spun to a stop. Then, she bolted.

She ran as fast and hard as she could from standstill, holding her still bound arms up against her chest. Above her were transparent lines of plastic with directions to varying areas of the building, but the only one she had interest in was the green sign for 'Fire Exit'. _Get out, get help. Please, please don't let them all die. _She repeated the prayer multiple times in her head as she dashed.

Two forms suddenly gave Relena a pause, caused her to stumble and fall forward. She fell to her knees, and scrambled up as quickly as she could. When she was upright, two rapiers were held an inch either side of her face.

Two people stood before her. The one to the left was obviously male, tall and muscled, wearing a pale yellow space suit, elaborately decorated with swirling sun patterns on stripes that started from the collarbone to down the legs and ending at the feet, the space suit was form fitting, to allow for quick movement clearly, but widened out at the neck to accommodate the equally elaborately decorated helmet. Its 'face' was largely reinforced glass, tinted black so she couldn't see the face within it, whilst the sides and back were pale yellow, matching the suit. Two small ears stuck out of the top of the helmet. His companion was female, shorter than him by a head and slender, with a matching suit and helmet, though hers was a deep, deep blue, almost black, and her swirling patterns contained crescent moons. They held a rapier sword each, unwavering. They didn't speak.

Relena instinctively took a step back from the rapiers and, almost mechanically, they took a step forward so the blades stayed by her head. Relena stopped moving, she was trapped.

"Sol!" Samael cried behind her, "Luna!"

He reached them, breathing heavily. His face was red and blotchy; his hair had come loose from its ponytail in places. He said nothing for several moments until he gained some semblance of composure, but when he did, a look of fury was spread across his features, and for the first time Relena felt genuine fear of this man. His companions, presumably Luna and Sol, stepped backwards and lowered their blades.

"Mr dear," he said; his voice anything but affectionate now; "_What was that all about_?"

He had reacquired his pistol, and a sharp pain spread across her right temple as he struck her with it. The pain in her head was instant and overwhelming; she became disorientated as the world around her spun. She lost her balance, and fell to the floor. Samael stood over her, and raised the gun once again. He had struck her with the nozzle end, but turned it around so he was now holding the nozzle end. Relena raised her arm in time to block the second blow, but the pain in her left wrist was excruciating. Three, four, and five more times the melee attack with the pistol came, and she felt something snap. She gritted her teeth together, fighting a scream. She would not cry in front of him, she would not let him beat her. She rolled to her side involuntarily, clutching her hands to her chest when she could tolerate the pain no more. The attacks stopped coming, and she wearily cracked her eyes open to see why.

Samael's arm was raised again, to deal yet another blow, but the yellow garbed man had his hand firmly around Samael's wrist. For a moment, Samael turned furiously to his companion, and then blinked. "Sol?" He said as his face transformed from a mask of pure rage into confusion, at once his complexion went from red and blotchy to pale white. He looked around momentarily, as if he didn't know where he was, and then his eyes met Relena's. Regret filled his face as he caught sight of her.

Relena couldn't help but cringe away from him as he scrabbled down and cuddled her closely to his chest, exclaiming apologize and excuses. Relena felt his tears on her face and was paralyzed by it. All the fight that had been in her a moment ago had left her entirely; she was completely subdued by his sudden attack. She couldn't move. Her mind screamed at her to push him away, to run far away from him but her body refused to move, even when Samael planted a wet kiss on her forehead. Relena felt a black hole of despair in her subconscious, and she could feel herself sliding into it with no will to save herself.

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><p>"Relena!"<p>

A voice she recognized.

_Heero._

Samael glanced up in surprise, and Relena could see him. Heero was pelting as fast as he could towards them, calculated anger across his handsome features. A handgun was clutched in his right hand, held slightly away from his body.

_Shoot him. _She thought, she tried to speak but she still couldn't control her body. _Kill him, please!_

Suddenly, Sol and Luna dived from either side of Samael and Relena, charging with unnatural speed at Heero. Time had slowed for Relena, still sluggish from the blow to her scalp, she watched as Heero dodged the first swing from Luna's blade. He brought his arm down on her sword hand with his gun hand, and a strange muffled cry emitted from the helmet. Luna's sword fell with a clatter to the floor. Heero turned to face Sol, who had abandoned his own blade and aimed a punch at Heero. It connected. He took the punch with no recoil, and spun, bending his arm and driving his elbow into Sol's stomach. Sol grunted, and fell to his knees, stunned. Heero spun again so he was facing Samael and Relena, and ran toward them. Samael gave a frightened squeal and raised his pistol and fired once, twice, three times. The first two shots went wide; knocking chips out of the wall and a door, but the last connect with Heero's own raised gun. His handgun spun out of his hand, but Heero didn't let it stop him.

This all took possibly two minutes, Relena was still groggy from the attack across her head, but she regained enough of her senses to shove Samael away from her. He fell back with a yelp, anger etched on his face again, and suddenly she was standing up and being dragged down the corridor. Heero's gripped on her upper arm was tight, sending jolting pains down her arm and to her throbbing wrist. She tried to match his pace, but she stumbled, she couldn't focus on where they were going. A door banged open, and she was shoved inside a darkened room before it was slammed shut again.

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><p>Relena stumbled sideways until she hit a wall, clutching her still-bound arms to her chest, stifling a cry as she slid down the wall.<p>

She opened her eyes wearily as lights flashed on and lit the room. "Heero?" She said blearily, finally finding her voice.

He was hurrying back to the door, clutching a high backed chair, and he leant it against the door, blocked the handle from being turned, before he kneeled down in front of her. "Let me see." He said, holding his hands out palm up for hers.

"I knew you'd come." Relena said as she looked down to her knees. "Thank you." Her voice was shaky, and she realized she was shaking all over from shock and pain. For a moment couldn't move her arms. Heero lifted her chin with a finger to meet his gaze; his eyes were soft with concern, "It won't take them long to find us, we have to be quick." His tone was firm, but not harsh.

Relena nodded once, and unsteadily held out her hands. Heero took her uninjured hand in his right and reached with the other to his jeans pocket were he pulled out a pocket knife. He flipped it to expose the blade; it glinted in the light. He then shifted so he was much closer to her, and spoke softly; "I'm going to cut the straps quickly and reset your wrist, but it'll hurt, bite my shoulder if you need too."

She barely had time to comprehend his words before a sharp tug on the straps sent blinding pain from her wrist, up her arm and spiraled to her head, making the spot where Samael had struck her pulse painfully. A dull series of cracks followed, the pain was extraordinary.

"Aargh!" she cried. Heero had positioned himself so his shoulder was right in front of her; she clamped her teeth around his jacket. It had a padded cloth in the shoulder and she bit onto it as hard as she could to stop herself from screaming. Her toes curled in her shoes with the effort.

Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes, and it felt as if an eternity had passed before the pain subsided enough for her to let Heero go. Her left hand was paler than her other unhurt one, the tips of her fingers tingled and her whole hand felt stiff. Heero examined her hand quickly, touching her fingertips and asking if she could feel it. She could. As Heero stood, she tried to move her fingers. She could but barely and the movements were stiff.

A loud crack caused Relena to startle; Heero had grabbed another chair and had snapped off one of the planks of wood supporting the back. It was then that Relena realized they were in a meeting room of some kind, a round table in the center of the room with chairs around it, and little else. Heero stood the piece of wood against the floor at an angle and stomped out it; another loud crack bursting the silence in the room, then returned to her and removed his jacket, easily tearing off the sleeve. He put the wood under her wrist and palm pressed into the end of the plank softly, there he began to tie the sleeve around her wrist to support the wood, tightly enough so it would not slip off when they moved but not so it cut off her circulation. "Try not to move your hand too much, keep it close to your body at all times." He said as he did so.

"Right." she said as Heero released her hand and she tucked it as carefully as she could against her chest. It couldn't have been more than five minutes since they had entered the room. She tried to control her breathing, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. Heero called her name and she looked up at him. His expression had hardened into one of calculated determination, and she knew they had to move. Using him as a support she stood up shakily. When he was sure she could stand alone, Heero moved to the door.

He pressed his ear against the door, closing his eyes. He listened for several moments, and then motioned for her to come to him. She stood close to him, and he spoke softly near her ear; "I doubled us back when we ran, but to get outside we'll have to go through the conference room again." He looked into her eyes squarely. Dread and sorrow settled into her heart, she knew what it meant. Back to Une, back to all those people. "Heero, we have to see if anyone's survived." She said, looking up at him imploringly, but he was shaking his head.

"They were executed; all of them. No one survived."

Relena looked away, clenching her right hand into a fist by her side, trying to contain her emotions. "I'll be fine." She responded, her voice was hollow however, she couldn't mask it. It would be a long time before she would be 'fine' with what happened tonight, if ever.

He stared at her for a moment longer, but turned and moved the chair blocking the door aside, and opened it silently.

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><p>They quickly examined the hall, found it empty, and hurried down a corridor. Relena still didn't recognize this area, as she had never been down this part of the building before today, so she stayed close to Heero, who seemed to know where he was going. However it didn't take long for the corridors to begin to look familiar and a horrendous stench entered Relena's nose.<p>

The door to the room they had used for the celebration had been left open and the sight inside was a devastating mess. "Oh God..." she breathed.

The bodies of the politicians an hour ago Relena had been talking and celebrating with littered the floor were they had been forced to kneel down. It had been a social event, wives and husbands of the politicians had attended too, and no one was spared, a pang of sorrow hit her once again as she gazed into the faces of those she was an acquaintance with, and with a few she had called friends. Among the bodies, the darkly clad men lay scattered roughly where they had stood as well. Their weapons lay discarded beside them.

When the men had finished executing their hostages, they had committed mass suicide.

Relena's fear and hatred for Samael grew. What could the man have done to convince these people to shoot themselves after killing hostages? She fully believed the two suited people with the rapiers certainly had something to do with it.

The smell ravaged Relena's senses, it was almost overpowering. The coppery scent of blood, of raw meat, fetid, upon death some of the hostages and darkly clad men had excavated their bowels and bladders. Relena felt glad that Une had been spared the same humiliation.

A harsh pain in her wrist brought Relena have to her senses, she had been gripped her makeshift splint so tightly in her right hand the knuckles turned white, causing the splint to shift and disturbing her painful wrist. Relena hurried to Heero's side, taking care not to stand on anyone or in anything. Relief did not get a chance to settle on Relena's subconscious, as the corridor leading outside was filled with the same destruction.

Heero paused momentarily to scoop up a gun beside a dead bodyguard. He ejected the clip and checked it, seemingly satisfied; he clicked it back in place and tucked the gun into the back of his jeans. Relena kept close, breathing through her mouth so she didn't have to breathe through her nose. When they were clear of the bodies and down another corridor, Relena asked; "Where are they?" Knowing he would understand who 'they' were.

"I left my cell phone behind when I found you, if they have any sense they'll have found it and realized the last call I'd made was to the police. They should be escaping, if we have any luck." Heero responded.

Relena paused in her step, "Luck? We can't let them escape, Heero." She said firmly, "They killed Une, and all those people in there. They can't get away with this."

Heero paused as well, and turned to face her squarely, "They won't," he promised, staring right into her eyes as he spoke to convey his seriousness, "but my main concern is getting you out of here."

Relena held his gaze for a moment, but sighed and looked away. "I trust you." She said, "But I don't like this."

In her peripheral vision she saw Heero look past her, though they could not see the bodies now, she knew he was thinking of them. "Neither do I." He said simply. "We need to hurry. I'm trusting in their common sense that they'll have left but I don't know Samael, he may still pursue us."

He turned at once and Relena followed, they sped forward, almost running. Several minutes later, they reached the front doors to the great building without contest. Heero paused in front of one; there were no windows he could look through to see if anyone was waiting for them. He placed his hand on the door knob whilst taking out the handgun he had acquired earlier. Relena stood close to him, ready to run when he did, her broken wrist securely between her breasts. Heero glanced at her once, she nodded her readiness, and he threw his weight against the door.

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><p>Heero let the door swing open, he swept his gun wide but neither Samael nor his strange companions were waiting for them outside. Relena stood by his side, looking for anything unusual as he did.<p>

It was winter, and though it was after six the sun had long settled over the horizon, giving way to the thick clouds that hid the stars and leaving them with only the street lamps to see by. A heavy snow had fallen the night previously, seemingly covering the world in white. The cold bit into Relena almost immediately, as she was wearing only light clothing, and her scalp wound throbbed hotly. Footsteps disturbed the snow; scores of them had trampled through the four inch thick snow carpet, all of them heading for the front door.

Two police cars had parked haphazardly in the street, and the bodies of four policemen lay scattered in front of their vehicles, blood staining the snow around them.

Heero kept his gun raised and descended the wide and shallow stone steps slowly, lightly crunching the snow beneath his boots. Relena followed, grim fascination not allowing her to tear her gaze away from the dead policemen; "This must be the response unit." She said quietly, her voice cracked in the effort against her dry throat. Heero nodded his agreement, his eyes seeking every corner or shadow. They silently passed the first policeman and Relena noted the deep slash that began at the collarbone and twisted to his other hip, it had torn through his bulletproof vest and clothing beneath, the blood had only recently stopped flowing, they couldn't have been killed any longer than a few moments ago. Relena wondered vaguely which of Samael's companions had cut this man down as Heero knelt down for a moment beside him long enough to check for a pulse in vain.

"They were killed as soon as they arrived." Relena said distractedly, speaking mostly to herself. Heero was moving around to the other bodies and checking for any signs of life, this turned up in vain too.

An overwhelming sense of responsibility crashed into Relena, and along with the pain in her scalp and wrist caused her knees to buckle. She sat beside the first policeman, not caring about the snow that chilled her body further, her head on her knees as she murmured a prayer for forgiveness to the victims. Samael had come for her, for whatever reason, and so many people had died in one night because of her. Maybe if she had decided to stay at home instead of attending the party, Samael would have noted her absence and either given up the plan for another day or sought her at her house, where she was alone. Samael may have pulled the trigger on Lady Une, he may have forced those men to assassinate those politicians and then turn the gun on themselves, his companions may have cut these men to death on his orders, but it was all done to capture her. She was as much responsible for the deaths of these people as surely if she were in Samael's shoes.

Snow crunched beside Relena, and her head snapped up, but it was Heero who stood beside her. "We have to go." He said, his tone giving no indication of how he felt about the situation, though she knew he was feeling it to. He held his hand out for her, and she took it gratefully. She stood up, her joints stiff from the cold. She began pulling her hand away, but Heero's grip on it tightened ever so slightly. Relena was paralyzed with shock as he twisted his hand, and linked their fingers. They stood apart -joined only by their hands- but from Heero the action was more comforting and intimate than a hug, or a kiss. A breeze had picked up, his bangs flitted lightly across his face, and his eyes were so bright she couldn't tear her gaze away –

The too brief moment was over when he released her hand, but when he did she felt a weight no longer on her shoulders. She knew she was still responsible for these people, but feeling weak and discouraged would get nothing solved. Relena now stood resolved; she would do everything within her power to bring Samael to justice, for him to face what he had done; only then would she feel fully lifted from her responsibility. But for now, she would embrace it and let it give her strength.

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><p><strong>AN**: I really need some feedback on this, I'm not sure if I left this chapter right but I had to stop somewhere. Does it flow neatly? I love this site but my only issue is its damn coding which doesn't allow for indentations, otherwise, it would look fine.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and hope it wasn't too detailed on the gruesome areas, this will probably be as gruesome as it'll get, but I wanted a situation that really forced a change into Relena. Thanks for reading and hope you continue too~ R&R is encouraged but not mandatory.


	2. Plastic Snow

**A/N**: Huge Author's note at the end of this chapter, For now; enjoy!

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><p>Gundam Wing Root ZERO<p>

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><p>Chapter Two Fake Snow<p>

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><p>The streets were clear, thankfully. As it was this close to Christmas the people who worked in the area had either finished early or taken holiday. In any case no one hung around the business section of the town Relena had called home for the past year and a half. The lights in the nearby buildings were off; aside from the conference building Samael had used to host his <em>party<em>. The heavy weight of silence pressed in all around, not even the slightest whisper of a breeze floated past and the fresh snow fell with equal quiet, and the only evidence that Relena hadn't been rendered deaf was the steady crunch of the snow beneath her and Heero's footsteps.

The pair set off down the road, Relena's progress halted by the snow that blanketed the district. The cold was biting despite the lack of wind, and left her shivering. She was acutely aware of the blood pumping through her veins, particularly by her temple, where pain thrummed in tempo with her pulse. Before leaving the building, it was somehow easy to ignore the pain, but now that they were seemingly safe it was distracting. Her wrist, however, was less painful with the numbing cold, so for that at least she could be thankful.

Heero kept a steady pace beside her, seemingly feeling no discomfort from the cold despite the loss of his jacket and, the gun he had acquired earlier still gripped in his right hand. His eyes sought every corner or darkened area for signs of danger.

The pair walked on in silence, heading toward Relena's house in the suburban area of town. Relena looked forward to returning home. With the ESUN and Preventer Headquarters located in the city nearby, it was not uncommon for officials like Relena to settle down close to work in the small towns that surrounded the main city. Many a time an important meeting concerning ESUN, Preventer, the Mars Terraformation Project or Relena's usual duties as Vice Foreign Minister took place in those pocket towns where those involved –or at least the majority- actually lived there.

The peace that the conclusion of the Mariemaia coup had brought about left everyone with a sense of safety. However, with Samael's plot, Relena wondered whether their individually decided choice to live so close to one another seemed foolish after all, as many of those who had died in the conference building at the party had indeed lived in the area and the surrounding towns.

With her determination to stop Samael, a wave of calm and clarity stole over Relena and, while still in shock and grieving for those who'd died, she managed to push those thoughts and emotions away, so she could look at it objectively, without emotions getting in the way. This was something Heero had tried to teach her, when he first took charge of her protection detail, and she had probed him with questions on how he handled everything in the war.

"_Compartmentalization,_" he had said, the memory clear to her mind, as this was one of the rare occasions where Heero had opened up about himself. "_It's a discipline. You don't stop feeling, but you put them aside. You call on them when you need them to win, but distance yourself when they can cloud you._"

"_It sounds difficult. How do you cut a part of yourself off in such a way?_"

"_I was taught at a young age. Some never learn how to, some can do it automatically._"

Heero had trailed off then, looking distant, and Relena had asked, "_Did Dr J teach you this?_"

"_No. This was ... earlier._"

He didn't elaborate, and Relena didn't ask him for more information. Heero rarely shared anything about himself, so in moments where he did, Relena learned to take the small snippets of information to merge later, to learn more about him. That day, however, Relena had learned more about Heero than she had ever before. It certainly explained how he seemed to handle the war, and alluded to how the other ex-Gundam Pilots handled it as well.

Up until now, Relena could never compartmentalize in the way Heero had tried to impress upon her, but now, it was so clear she vaguely wondered how she couldn't before.

With her emotions tucked away to be experienced later, Relena felt safe enough to think back to the horrid events in the conference building without crying. It was hard, but she had to do this.

She thought back to before Samael's entrance. She had felt free and slightly careless; the party invitation sprung on her in surprise the night before and, finding her schedule free for that evening, had accepted. She had danced and talked to those with whom she had gotten to know; most by acquaintance and few by genuine friendship during her time as Vice Foreign Minister. It had been, from the moment she had stepped into the large room, a true party and not a political event aiming to win her attention for one scheme or another. Or so it had seemed.

Samael had been the perfect host. She had even danced with him, although briefly. Samael was a corporate head of a mining company -the sole head if she remembered correctly- and he had presented himself as cunning and full of plots even then, despite his colourful persona. She remembered now, how she hadn't trusted him at all upon their first meeting, and how cold she felt when his gaze fell upon her.

So why, with a few drinks and a pleasant atmosphere, did Relena suddenly forget about her first impression of Samael, of her guttural instinct warning her against him?

With a sinking sensation in her stomach, Relena realized why her feeling of responsibility for the entire event began and persisted as a weight in her heart.

She had distrusted Samael. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had known, perhaps not his full intentions, but that something was _wrong_ with him. And yet she had accepted his party invitation. Samael's peculiar feelings for her were undeniable, if she had declined his invitation she had no doubt he would have cancelled the entire affair. He may have sought after her when she was alone, or, possibly, given up his pursuits entirely. Lives could have been spared.

Why did she accept his invitation? She wasn't usually so careless. She had always followed her instincts before. She _lived _by them. Even when she didn't understand why at that moment, the knowledge would always come later and, more often than not, she would have been right.

Relena had worked almost solidly since the Mariemaia coup. Hell, since the War even. Immediately following the War the Mars Terraformation Project had begun, and Relena was the spearhead for its beginning. She was in charge of getting people, companies, colonies interested and involved, so much had to be done that Relena was hardly left any time for her regular duties. Her work days had been punctuated only to eat and sleep, and even then not consistently.

But it had been important, hadn't it? A place where Earthlings and Colonists could mingle on neutral grounds, it was the first step towards building a peace that would last longer than the lifetimes of this generation. Relena was truly well aware of the brief memory of humanity, the Mariemaia coup opened her eyes to that, and did not count on the peace lasting longer than a few generations. Mar's Terraformation was to ensure it lasted longer. Wars would always crop up, it was in humanity's nature, but wars that could devastate human existence such as one between Earth and the Colonies could at least be prevented.

But then, when the Terraformation Project had learned to walk on its own, there were other projects. The ROOT Act...

And so, when Relena had received the party invitation, when she found she had a free evening for the first time in a long time, with the weight of her responsibilities suffocating her, she had forgotten her instincts. Samael Wolfos was just another name in an entire string of names she learned of in her daily life, and she hadn't thought of it further than that.

And because of this unforgivable lapse, so many had died.

Relena unknowingly stopped walking. Snowflakes settled and melted on her shoulders and in her hair and went ignored as the realization threatened to engulf her. The compartmentalization she had finally grasped before forgotten, and a tidal wave cascaded towards her.

"Relena," Heero said, and while he had spoken softly, the break in the silence was like a sudden gunshot in the darkness.

Relena looked up from where her gaze was settled on the ground before her into Heero's. His eyes flickered between hers, reading her. "Fight it," he said after a moment on consideration, and Relena wondered –not for the first time- how Heero had dissected her thoughts so easily.

Vulnerability surrounded Relena, and her eyes stung as tears drew close, "I... It's hard."

"It is, but you're strong." Heero did not step closer to her as he did earlier, and she did not want him to. She wasn't a little girl to be consoled with every quivering lip, and if he moved to comfort her once again her pride would make her angry. Earlier, when he had held her hand in his and looked at her to steady her, she had taken solace in it because the immediate shock and horror of the situation had left her too numb to compose herself.

Now, however, she was composed, and with her name called softly in the silence, a quick distraction, she gathered her emotions again. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply through her nostrils and exhaled just as deeply and, with the exhale, the anxiety and sense of hopelessness that almost consumed her again fled. When she opened her eyes again, she nodded to Heero, who gave a curt nod in return and resumed walking again. Relena followed in step beside him.

* * *

><p>The walk to Relena's home was not a long one, however in the cold it felt longer. Home was a small, two-story, detached, old white house with grey roofing that appeared off-white in confliction with the snow, in a lane of houses sharing its exact description. It sat on top of a wide, sloping hill, and offered an amazing view of the rest of the rather picturesque town, and the countryside beyond it. In the far distance on a clear night; the lights from the neighbouring city could be seen glowing and twinkling like Earth-bound stars, the Preventers tower in the centre.<p>

Her neighbour's lights were off as she walked along the lane, stepping in the areas where the snow had already been trodden on to spare her frozen feet, and Relena was thankful for her luck thus far. She hurried to her door, overtaking Heero, looking forward to seeing Bernard.

For a moment, Relena stood looking at her front door, faced with the sudden remembrance that she had left her purse with her keys to the house back at the conference building. Feeling ridiculous, Relena turned and watched Heero coming up the steps, ready to tell him they were locked out. However, Heero, having deemed it safe enough, had stuck the handgun between his belt and jeans, reached into a pocket and pulled out a key that, Relena knew, would unlock the door. She frowned at Heero, who moved passed her and unlocked the door with no hint of shame, and rolled her eyes at his back, feeling slightly bemused.

Heero had never joined the Preventers. He declined her and Lady Une's request every time, and yet he took responsibility for Relena's welfare fully. If she did not trust Heero entirely, and understood how seriously he took his responsibilities, she would have found his dedication insane and more than a little bit creepy.

Initially after Mariemaia's coup Heero had taken to watch Relena from the shadows -entirely unnoticed by her and her official Preventer security detail- until, after an assassin targeted her mother, Mareen Darlian, which forced him to interact with Relena directly. When what he had been doing for a year or so had been revealed, Relena had been furious.

Heero had opened the door and Bernard came bounding to the entrance at the sight of Relena and Heero, and Relena's spirits was lifted.

Bernard was an Old English sheepdog, almost entirely white with a grey back, long shaggy fur that would cover his exceptionally bright eyes if Relena didn't make a habit of trimming the fur above his eyes. She had had Bernard for several years now, and his friendly and playful personality always managed to make her smile even at her most stressed moments.

Heero, having been the first at the door when unlocking it, received attention from Bernard first. The dog stood on his hind legs with his forepaws on Heero's chest, and Heero proceeded to fuss over him, scratching his ears while the dog panted happily. He always did like dogs; Relena thought, smiling as she stepped into the entrance hall and turned on a lamp that stood on the half table near the front door. Heero brushed Bernard away from him gently, and closed the front door as the dog turned unabashed to Relena.

Prepared to receive a leap from the dog, Relena was surprised when Bernard became unfamiliar with Relena suddenly; sniffing at her legs as though she was a stranger. "What's wrong, boy?" she said in a light tone, and, as she bent down to fuss him, saw the dried blood covering her legs from the knees down.

Lady Une's blood.

A wave of grief and guilt tore through Relena abruptly. She had forgotten. She refused to break down again, but she felt repulsed by her own skin, and wished she could crawl out of it.

She looked to Heero, where the brightness that had entered his eyes earlier was gone again. He looked at her seriously and said, "Let me check your wrist. Then you can get washed."

Feeling relieved, Relena held her arm out to him, surprised by how the splint had kept in place and enabled her to forget about it despite how bulky and primitive it was. Heero proceeded to carefully untie the torn sleeve around the wood, and shifted the wood out of the way, placing both on the half table. He checked her wrist carefully, moving it tenderly and touching the tips of her fingers, asking her if she could feel it again, to which she nodded. An ugly bruise, blue and purple and mottled, had swelled over her arm, marking the places where Samael had struck her with the pistol. The bruise itself was sore and tender to the touch, but otherwise she felt no pain.

"It seems fine," he said, "but be careful."

Relena smiled at him, grateful to see him and to have him near. He was one of the few pillars she had left and, despite how she didn't want to for his sake, relied on him more than either of them knew. "Thank you, Heero, for everything."

Heero nodded once, his hands in his pockets, and Relena turned towards the stairs, ready to have a shower and clear as much of the evidence of tonight as possible, so she could regain some semblance of normality again.

* * *

><p>Samael Wolfos was <em>very<em> angry.

For a small glimmering moment, everything was progressing accordingly. Relena had accepted his invitation, as had every other unimportant piece of droll that were long due for disposing of and he had won her affections with the removal of that dreadful Une woman. Ha! Lady indeed!

He was just taking his leave, with his love at his arm, to the beautiful harmonics only gunfire could produce, when the fog descended. The fog; which would cloud his mind and memories in its veil, impenetrable, blinded him for a moment, and in that moment it had all fallen apart.

Samael spared a disgusted glance down his crooked nose at Sol and Luna, his supposed guards who lay on the floor, twitching in pain, the recently fallen snow disturbed all around them, fresh snowflakes landing on them unnoticed.

Samael was all too aware of his singular flaw, of the fog, and had brought Sol and Luna along in the event that Samael was left unable to tend to Relena. However, his foresight had been made in vein, as Relena had escaped him anyway, and he knew those two were to blame, regardless of what he could or, in this case, could not remember.

Samael had designed the suits they wore himself and, aside from being atheistically pleasing, served several important functions; one of them being in punishment. At the utterance of a single command given by him, Samael could spark an electrical strike at key areas in Sol's and Luna's body, the voltage not high enough to kill them immediately but to deliver maximum pain provided he paced the contraption.

Samael preferred to control people through those his target's cared about; families and friends. However, Sol and Luna had only each other. The emotional pain one felt when the other writhed in agony, mingled with their own physical pain, wrought an iron grip over them that Samael required nothing else. It was what made them effective guardians.

Samael spoke the command now, and found his spirits lifted as they jerked on the floor. He could imagine their screaming, he could hear it if he wanted to, if he allowed the radios on their helmets to transmit sound outbound, however they were not yet safe enough to risk their screams drawing attention.

Another command and the electric current ceased. Sol was lying on his back and breathing hard but in utter silence and Luna was lying curled in a foetal position beside him taking short and quick inhalations of breath in equal silence, both twitching from the side effect of the shock.

He stepped back and surveyed their surroundings. The airstrip continued to be empty of any prying eyes, as it should be considering this was _his_private airstrip, however it did well to be sure. The bulk of his shuttle covered them from view in any case.

He looked down at them again, "Find her," he spat, fury lining his words, "Kill the villain. Do _not_ fail me again."

He was still furious. He could feel the anger lying just under the surface of his control, and the fog circling overhead of the anger, ready to spring if he allowed it to. But he knew he would be seeing Relena very shortly, and so he had to control himself, had to make himself presentable. It wouldn't pay to let Relena see such an ugly side to him so early in their budding relationship. He had every confidence that Sol and Luna would succeed this time, for they knew the consequence of another failure.

As he turned away from them, climbing the steps to his shuttle, his anger left him in waves of heat as his thoughts turned to his future with Relena. A smile spread across his face as he contemplated how close it all was.

* * *

><p>For only a minute, Sol and Luna continued to lie still. The snow did little to cushion the hard tarmac beneath them, and they were indeed all too aware of Samael's wrath if he saw them, but they dared not move yet.<p>

Although silence lay heavy around them, they appeared to be communicating. Luna, still twitching, reached painfully for Sol and slid her hand into his. Sol turned his helmeted head toward her, as if listening, and squeezed her hand gently in return.

Then, they appeared to reach some agreement, and both moved to stand, shaking at first, but then seemed to compose themselves and stood as if they hadn't been tortured moments before. Then the two broke into a run, and sped along the airstrip with inhuman speed.

* * *

><p>The bathroom door stood opposite the stairs on the upper level, so Heero waited until Relena had closed and locked the bathroom door before moving around the house, with Bernard trailing after him. He checked each room on the lower floor first; testing the windows to ensure they were still locked and glancing quickly to see if anything was out of place.<p>

Heero had decided to take responsibility over Relena's protection detail a year or so ago and this was still done from afar. He worked through roundabout methods and altered orders to her bodyguards remotely using Lady Une's security codes and as thus Heero had never actually stepped inside Relena's home. Even the house key he had was received from Mareen when they had met some time back.

Her home was modest despite her income and heritage. Downstairs held a kitchen, living room and office; however the officer bore the marks of being the most lived-in, with pictures lining the wall in front of her desk which stood facing the window overlooking the town. Heero stopped in his search as he noticed the teddy bear staring with its black, beady eyes beside her monitor. It was some moments before he moved away, unknowingly smiling to himself.

However, as he turned away, a red glint caught his eye.

Framing the office on two joined walls were bookshelves that reached from the floor to the ceiling. The one closest to her desk contained work files and newspaper articles and looked the most used of the others. Opposite her desk, while holding some work folders that had been clumsily shoved in for space, another shelf held more decorative pieces, with framed pictures, ornaments, small poetry books, and a healthy potted plant.

Beside a picture of a younger Relena with her mother by a darkened corner of the deep shelf, a red light blinked at him once.

Heero froze as waited for another flash, breathing slowly and quietly, and sure enough after a full minute another small blink of light blinked at him. The flash was so quick with a long wait in between each one that it was pure chance that he had even spotted it in the first place. Moving to the shelf he moved aside the picture carefully and reached to the back of the shelf. He felt nothing, except for a small jagged cut in the shelf. He pulled his arm away and waited for the flash again and, when it came a minute later, moved to small gap behind the bookshelf. With a reach and a quick tug, he pried the tiny spy camera from its place behind the bookshelf.

Turning it around to look at all sides showed no company logo or any kind of identification number, but he knew what the device was, for it was indeed a spy camera. The tiny thing was no bigger or longer than the rubber at the end of a pencil, black, with a tiny glass screen and another tiny bulb shaped screen above it where the red light blinked weakly at him. With the rather short lifespan and poor video and FPS quality on the camera, they were incredibly cheap, disposable and sold in bundles.

It was fortunate he had found even this one, as he was sure that there would be more. Many more. Heero bounced the tiny thing in his hand once before crushing it easily in his fingers and throwing it into the bin. He knew Relena nor her security would use these things, it had to be Samael.

Heero looked more carefully around the office, looking through the likely places where more would be hidden, and moved through each room again. Bernard retreated to his basket in the living room when it became clear that Heero wasn't going to be giving him any more attention.

* * *

><p>Upon entering the bathroom Relena stripped out of her clothes, bundled them together unceremoniously and dumped them in a corner where she would later throw them away. They could be washed, but she didn't think she could wear them without the memories of tonight resurfacing.<p>

Then she showered. She relished as she stood under the faucet and the heat ran over her, warming her bones and soothing the pain from her temple, which began to leak blood again as the dried blood impending the flow washed away. Once she had relaxed enough, she began washing the blood from her legs and hands and as it washed away down the plughole the tension she had been carrying through the evening since the attack left her in waves.

In her mind the burden of her responsibility still weighed upon her, but she was able now to remain optimistic. She had a goal; Heero was by her side and would help her, Samael and his guards would be brought down, and those who died would be avenged. The task before her was enormous, for Samael was powerful; however she wasn't without her own power.

She heard Heero moving around the corridor outside as she stepped out of the shower, and the clicks of doors being opened and closed again some moments later. She wasn't worried; her guards often patrolled the house during a situation that demanded it.

When the knock on the bathroom door came in three rapid bursts, Relena startled and almost slipped. "Is everything okay?" She said quickly, her heart in her throat.

"I need you to come out as soon as possible," Heero called out.

Relena allowed herself to relax, and a wry grin caught her, "Desperate for the toilet, Heero?" She said coyly.

He paused, "Very funny."

She couldn't hear him move away, so she assumed he was waiting for her, and Relena began to dry and dress herself. Within minutes, she stepped out of the bathroom wearing a pair of grey jogging bottoms and a white cotton tank top that served as her pyjamas, and startled as Heero barged into the bathroom as he passed her. For a moment, she thought he truly was eager to go, but then she saw the intense concentration on his face and his eyes swept the room quickly.

"Heero?" She called softly, feeling the tension she had only just relinquished return as she watched him move around the bathroom quickly, checking under appliances and systems.

"Heero, what is going on?!" She barked harsher than she intended as something like panic crept on the edges of her consciousness, but he finally gave her his attention by holding out his hand, closed fist, and dropping something into her open hand, his eyes still everywhere searching.

The tiny spy camera sat in the centre of her palm, and while she didn't recognize it with as much familiarity as Heero the shape was recognisable enough for her to know what it was, and who put it there.

Relena looked at Heero as horror mounted, "How many?" she asked quietly.

"You don't want to know," he said and stepped forward to leave the bathroom. Relena was stood on the threshold between the bathroom and the hallway, and as Heero moved to edge passed her she stopped him by gripping his upper arm.

"Please, Heero..." she implored, squaring her jaw and looking into his eyes as he looked into hers. He paused, and she recognized his expression from earlier. He was looking to see if she could handle the information. She wasn't sure she could, but she composed her expression and hoped it was enough.

"Thirty," he said finally. "Most were downstairs; each room has at least a few to get reasonable angles from all sides of the room." She didn't know and he wouldn't tell her that he'd found at least triple what he'd found in one room alone in her bedroom, and she didn't know and he wouldn't tell her how it set his blood on fire in anger.

Relena gasped, releasing Heero's arm and stepping away from him to lean against the doorframe, closing her eyes to avoid his, when a horrible thought flashed in her mind and she looked into the bathroom, but Heero answered her unasked question immediately, "I didn't see any in there."

She sighed with relief, "How did I not see them before, with that many?"

"They were placed well; unless you were looking for them you wouldn't have seen them."

She clutched a hand over her chest, "Could you tell how long they've been up for?" she asked.

Heero plucked the camera from Relena's palm when he indicated her to hold it out, and inspected it, "These things have short lives. They last no longer than a week, but in places where they had been glued to the wall shows multiple applications."

"How many?"

"At least four."

Relena moved from the threshold to lean her elbows against the stair banister, she saw Bernard standing by the foot of the stairs –as he had been trained not to go upstairs- wagging his tail and panting happily, oblivious to her turmoil.

Relena watched him as she thought back, wondering who had entered her life in the past month or so who could have placed the cameras without her suspicion. Relena seldom had visitors, as she was more often than not on a business trip or attending a meeting or making a speech and the pleasure visits she spent at home were few and far between. Try as she might, she couldn't think of who would or could betray her trust that way.

_But that's the point, isn't it._ She thought dryly.

She thought of Samael, how he had clearly been untrustworthy upon meeting him and yet his charisma and energy helped her to ignore it later. The cameras were no doubt set up under Samael's orders, but could there possibly be someone else in her life who had twitched her instincts in the same manner Samael had?

A memory nudged at her, and she strived to reach for it, but it eluded her.

She came back to herself, and looked around to see Heero by her side, leaning against the banister as she did and watching her silently, his eyes as unreadable as always, although she saw a questioning expression.

"I don't know," she said quietly, "I don't know who would do this and... I'm not sure I want to find out."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to start suspecting everyone I know and care about, if I do that then Samael gains control over me by not allowing me to trust anyone," she said quietly, avoiding Heero's gaze by watching Bernard. The dog had spotted Heero, and looked back and forth between them, eager for them to come downstairs as his tail continued to move enthusiastically.

"By that reasoning he still gains control over you; whoever he has turned against you will continue to undermine you and by not looking for them you're letting him." Heero said bluntly.

Relena nodded, she had thought about that, but said, "Samael's plan was to kidnap me tonight. You interrupted him and threw his organization into chaos. The fact that he didn't have someone waiting for us when we came here means he didn't have a proper backup plan or, if he did, it was also foiled when you rescued me," Now she looked at him. "Whoever he's turned against me will have had a job to do once I was in Samael's possession, now my betrayer will have to continue their part or run away. Either way, we'll know who it is through any move they make."

"But-"

"When that happens I'll deal with it then, but I won't turn everyone I know about into an enemy." She said as her pulse raced.

Heero said nothing more on the subject.

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later, Heero was convinced he'd removed all of the cameras. He carried a plastic bag in one hand with the bundles of crushed and useless devices within. He had swept through the house three times, eventually finding several cameras in the bathroom after all, hiding in incredibly unlikely places where there was a only a small chance of getting any view, but placed seemingly in the desperation that the videos would capture something.<p>

He decided to keep that discovery to himself.

Relena had gone downstairs, wanting to assist Heero in his search and disposal of the cameras, but he had insisted she sat down and let him down it, preferring to work without the distraction. He heard the news on the television playing in the living room, and saw as he made his way downstairs Relena sitting with her feet up and legs curled beside her on the leather couch, with Bernard lying in front her on the floor asleep.

Relena turned to look at him as he moved into the living room, and her eyes fell to the plastic bag. It was slightly transparent, and showed its contents easily. She frowned as she looked at it, looking worried, "What are you going to do with them?" She asked.

"I'll give them to the Preventers," he said, setting the bag down on the coffee table in front of the couch, "The one's with power left I destroyed, but some had ran out of power before others so they can tracked to wherever the videos were transmitted to."

He leaned against the wall beside the couch, folding his arms and closing his eyes.

"Should I call the Preventers?" He heard her ask, and she started to get up.

"No," he said, opening his eyes again. "I don't want to use the phone just yet in case Samael can track us here."

"Wouldn't he suspect we'd come back here?"

"Probably, but he can't know for certain without coming here, and it'd be too risky for him to move just yet."

There was silence between them saving for the news report on the television and the gentle snores coming from Bernard. There was a preoccupied air around Relena, and a hand hovered over her wrist where the bruise had formed so quickly, tracing the mottled purple and blue skin.

"There hasn't been a report about the massacre..." she said, her voice low and thick with emotion. "Do you think the police know?"

Heero responded in an equally low voice. "Yeah. They'll have sent the second responders when the first failed to call in," He had tried to avoid mentioning the first responder's deaths directly, but Relena flinched nevertheless.

Relena sighed heavily, the tone heavy with the sorrow of someone much older than herself, and she held the ball of her palms to her eyes, pressing her face into her hands. "I'm so tired," she murmured.

"You should sleep," he said.

"I couldn't..." She said, "Not after..."

She trailed off. She was quiet for some minutes before she said, "I keep thinking I can relax, and then something else happens and any composure I get just falls away. Why does this feel so different than in the War, or when Dekim had me?"

Heero was silent himself for some moments as he thought. "Because this is personal; Samael's coming after _you_. So far, he doesn't have any ulterior motive," he said. "It's difficult to distance yourself in a situation like this."

Relena nodded into her hands, still leaning on them, "Is that why I feel so responsible? Every time I close my eyes I see everyone who died tonight, I'm scared to stay in the quiet because I hear the gunshots when there's no other noise."

"You're not responsible."

"I am. If I wasn't before, Samael made me responsible the moment he made those men fire the guns and kill all those people. He made me responsible the moment Lady Une died." She hunched over, her hands clutching her chest. "Oh God, poor Mariemaia; she has no one now."

Heero blinked. He'd forgotten; Lady Une had adopted Mariemaia after the incident and taken her in. Sometimes Mariemaia came into the Preventer building with her, pushing herself around on her wheelchair that she was bound to since the bullet fired by her grandfather had left irreparable damage. Heero had seen her from time-to-time, and the child they had met leading her army and the child she was now made her seem like an entirely different person. He knew Relena had become friendly with both Lady Une and Mariemaia in the recent years, visiting as often as her bloated schedule would allow.

Heero didn't know what to say, but he watched as Relena's body shook, and he thought maybe she had finally succumbed to tears, a delayed reaction to the shock of tonight possibly. She was entirely silent, as if holding her breath to contain herself, and Heero found himself at a loss as to what to do.

Grief took a range of forms when expressed that varied as often as there were differing personalities, and Heero had been numbed to death. His training and his experience in combat had forced him to accept that people died, and not always for good enough reasons, and never as kindly as innocents deserved, and to fall into depression served no one. The massacre that had occurred tonight was no worse and no better than the horrors he himself had seen.

However for Relena, who had gone her entire life protected and sheltered, and had – even when she ruled over the Sanq Kingdom and saw it burned all around her and when she was kidnapped by Dekim Barton in the Mariemaia coup and was forced to watch as her brother, Noin, and the Gundam Pilots fought to reach the base – never seen a bloody and gruesome death. Her adoptive father's death had been clean in comparison.

A dry sob escaped her, such a lost sound that, despite how controlled Heero was, affected him in a way that tugged at his own heart. But he was rooted in place, unsure as to what to do and paralyzed by indecision.

The sob had woken Bernard up, and he sat up immediately, his ears pricked and staring with his intelligent eyes as Relena's curled form. He whined softly and put his huge head on her knee, licking her elbow where it rested on her leg. Relena responded distractedly by putting a hand on his head, scratching his head lightly.

Taking that as some encouragement Heero finally found his legs unfrozen, and moved to other side of the couch. He sat down beside her, close enough for her to reach him if she wanted to, but distant enough not to if she didn't, and watched her silently.

Tears were running down her face and onto her chest, but she was as silent as ever. The atmosphere was heavy with anticipation, as if waiting for a storm to break. He could see how she bit on her lower lip until it bled with the force of keeping herself quiet, her eyes squeezed shut and her other hand on her forehead. She shook so much the couch trembled with her, and, Heero reached out tentatively with a hand and touched her shoulder.

The contact shocked her. She gasped and looked at him, the surprise clear on her soaked faced. Her eyes sparkled brightly.

Uncertainty made Heero pause but, trusting in instinct, he reach around to her other shoulder, and tugged gently once, his gaze locked with hers the entire time. The gesture unmistakable, she leaned towards him, and let him put his arm around her. She was stiff initially, as was he, both entirely unfamiliar with this level of intimacy for the first time in a couple of years, since the time he had grabbed her hand as she moved passed him, and drew her close. Again, that time, he had reacted on instinct.

"It's alright," he said, his voice slightly husky from his dry throat. Relena didn't answer him but, within a few minutes, she relaxed into his hold.

* * *

><p>In the darkened cold outside, where he snow had stopped and the air stood still, Sol and Luna stood disguised by the shadows of the trees in the park opposite the conference building.<p>

The conference building they and their Master and their target had been at only hours before was a swarm of activity. S.W.A.T. teams. Police officers, paramedics and their various vehicles crowded the road and blocked a lot of the view, but as ambulances came and left the pair could discern what was happening.

The officials moved hurriedly in and out of the building, calling out to each other in low tones. No light from any vehicle flashed. Clearly they hoped to keep the commotion to a minimal, to avoid any media from swarming in until they were ready to tell the town what had happened. They pulled people from the building on stretchers, most in body bags, although a few looked to have survived their condition looked unstable. The pair would have to deal with any survivors later.

They waited for some time more, undisturbed by the cold, until gradually the area cleared. Samael had, in his rage, left no directions for Sol and Luna as to where they could find their target, and were forced to wait until the swirl of activity from the building cleared so they could retrace her steps.

Eventually, when the last detective left, they felt safe enough to move into the open.

They stood in the middle of the road, the blood had been cleared from the ground, but police tape cordoned off the front door, bearing the words "Do not enter. Police investigation." In black, bold writing, and barriers had been erected on either end of the street to ward off people. Ignoring the tape, Sol kicked sharply at one side of the double door near the handle, and the door swung open as the door handle flew off from its place. The tape snapped as he walked through it, with Luna trailing behind him.

Neither expected their target to still be in the building, but the fresh snow that had fell covered any tracks from earlier before, and they needed to find some means of locating any likely areas where their target lived, or would go.

With luck, the villain wouldn't have taken her straight to the Preventers.

The pair split up, each taking a half of the building and searching, moving with inhuman speed and searching with eagle eyes. They didn't need to turn on any of the lights; their night vision had also been enhanced in their upgrading.

Sometime later, Luna called out to Sol through her radio and within minutes he joined her in what appeared to be an unused office that had been converted into storage, where the coats and belongings of the guests of the party had been dumped unceremoniously on Samael's orders by his mercenaries. He had known no one would be returning to collect them.

Luna held in her long, delicate but strong fingers a purse that matched their target's outfit at the party and, when she opened it up, contained the usual women items, as well as her house keys and cell phone.

Luna threw the rest of the purse away as she handed the phone to Sol, who turned it on and scrolled through the contacts list. Luckily for them their target had been careful to store her contact's details, including their home addresses and relation to her, such as co-worker or acquaintance. They held only street names and door numbers, but that was of no concern to the pair, a street name was all they needed.

They held no information as to their target's whereabouts, but they had the next best thing. Sol threw the cell phone to the floor and with the same speed as earlier darted from the room with Luna; within seconds they had left the building and were speeding along the road to their new destination.

In the darkened room, only the bright glare of the phone's screen shed any light, throwing every shape into deeper shadow. Mareen Darlian's information showed bright against the light background for a few moments, before fading to black.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: To newcomers to the story, welcome! To those who read my first chapter so long ago, I'm so sorry for the over-a-year long delay.

I've had the ideas for this story laid out and planned, but was dismayed when this-goddamn-chapter refused to be written. I'd hit the biggest writer's block I'd ever experienced and so early in the project! I wrote a hundred or so different scenarios that were discarded only moments later. Only recently have I gotten out of this block. So I apologize for the change in writing style between these chapters, and I hope it's for the better. By way of an apology, I added a little extra fluff into the story that I hadn't intended on.

Also, a quick thank you to everyone who reviewed my first chapter and gave me some feedback, I was so annoyed at this chapter that I didn't feel right responding to the feedback knowing I couldn't get even the second chapter done, and a year is too long to reply now. So if you're one of the people who reviewed my first chapter and somehow remember what this story was; a big thanks to you all. As always, favourites and follows and reviews are always appreciated, but not mandatory.


	3. The Walk

**A/N**: Are these chapters too long? This one is the biggest one yet, at 8,000 words according to this site. Give me your thoughts. :)

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><p>Gundam Wing Root ZERO<p>

* * *

><p>Chapter Three - The Walk<p>

* * *

><p>Mareen Darlian glanced at the clock in the sitting room briefly through the kitchen as she finished tiding up from the day's activity. The housekeeping staff always kept the place spotlessly clean and picked up after her anyway but she believed in picking up after herself, and the staff always found something to fill up the three hours they spent once a week in her house tiding.<p>

She'd had some dignitaries and their spouses around for an evening tea for a project she was working on for Relena, who had gone out for the evening with some other politicians to celebrate another year of peace. It was nearing midnight when she finished drying and putting the dishes she'd used in the day away.

Mareen smiled inwardly as she sat down on the sofa, Relena must be having fun if she hadn't called yet with exclamations of boredom and complaining of the ulterior motives so many politicians harboured. When her husband first took office, he'd complained of the exact same things, and it comforted Mareen in a way she couldn't quite explain to herself of how much Relena reminded her of him on nights when she missed him a great deal.

Suddenly, the lights on the building went out. Mareen stood up quickly and hurried to the darkest corner of the sitting room she could see, one where the streetlights outside didn't illuminate, and crouched in its shadows.

A few years back the lights had gone out in the same manner, when a group of terrorists had decided to target her to get to Relena. Back then, a young man had burst into the room, startling her but before she could do much more than scream, the young man had flashed some Preventer credentials she couldn't see clearly in the darkness, and spoke to her using words like "Ma'am", and had moved her to a corner just like the one she crouched in now, telling her to stay there and stay quiet, before he'd dashed out. She had obeyed him wordlessly, since his tone held the same authority her security had. She'd heard a scuffling, and sounds of exertion in tones from men who didn't sound like the Preventer, and then silence. When she had the courage to stand up and turn a light on, she was greeted by the sight of men bigger and older than the young man lying on the floor of her hall, clutching parts of themselves and groaning, with the Preventer standing over them, looking entirely unharmed and undisturbed.

That was how Mareen had been introduced to Heero Yuy. Mareen had found herself as impressed with him as Relena had, albeit in a more fearful way. Mareen didn't know that Heero wasn't a part of the Preventers or that the credentials he'd waved in her face were fake but what she did know was that he'd saved her life that day, before she knew she was in danger, and knew that he was something of a bodyguard of a sort for Relena.

And that was all she really had wanted to know. There was something dangerous in the glare the boy could give, and something in the way he spoke and held himself, that his experience made him much, much wiser than the older woman. But he was devoted to Relena, that much was plainly obvious, and her daughter in return respected him highly, and that was all she cared about.

A tinkle of broken glass brought Mareen back to the present; and she crouched as small as she could into the corner, trying to pace her breathing and make the panicked sound as quiet as possible, counting the seconds for the backup generator she had installed in the event of a similar situation happened again to activate, where she could scream for her own guard detail until they rushed to her defence.

She waited, and waited.

She recounted again in case her panicked mental ticking had been too fast.

She waited.

The door to the hall from the sitting room had been open as she'd left it, and although she heard no more sound since the breaking glass, the air in the room changed. The slight change in pressurization and the hairs that rose on the back of her neck that told her she suddenly wasn't alone in her home, in her sitting room.

Mareen held her breath hoping, praying, that her senses were wrong and she couldn't _feel_ someone enter the sitting room. Her palms began to sweat and clutch at her knees as she let her breath out in silent gasps.

Suddenly, someone stepped into the yellow light the streetlights outside shed through the blinds, and she had to fight to control the audible gasp that almost escaped her.

It was definitely a man; tall, muscled, wearing some kind space suit with his helmet still on from what she could see in the low light. He was holding some kind of thin pole in once hand, and as he raised it to place it against his shoulder she could see from the decorated hilt that it was a sword, a rapier, and something dripped from it.

The man wasn't facing her, but she felt more confident than her quivering body portrayed that she'd chosen the darkest area in the room, and with that stupid helmet with the darkened visor on he couldn't see her. If she just kept quiet, she could be safe enough until he left to move upstairs, where she could make a break for the front door.

The man's head turned almost mechanically as he surveyed the room, and – moment of truth – slowly turned to face her. His head snapped to her angle and she was definitely and fearfully sure he could see her, yet he didn't move toward her.

The helmeted head turned up to the ceiling, and a peculiar sound burst through the heavy silence that had Mareen not clamped a hand to her mouth would have caused her to cry out. The sound reminded her of a broken communicator, there was a crackling in the background but a high pitched whine that invaded her eardrums and made them hurt.

When the noise stopped, the streetlights outside went out and Mareen was plunged into complete darkness. She could see nothing in front of her, and the black seemed to press into her wide eyes, her ears, tightening her throat; it seemed to become a solid force that would blind her, deafen hear, suffocate her if she stayed where she was. Only the cold wall behind her that anchored her to her senses told her otherwise.

And yet, despite how she couldn't see _must_ mean the man couldn't see her either, she felt deadly exposed, naked, like she was still being watched. She closed her eyes for what little it did, squeezing them tight and shuddering in fear.

Then, the lights in the sitting room came back on. For a breaths-width of a moment she kept her eyes closed, but then grim curiosity made them open against her fear.

The two bloodied rapiers met her gaze.

* * *

><p>The silence spread its hold over the entire house, with only a slight creek every so often as an appliance settled, and Bernard's quiet snores added adding a gentle rhythm to do silence.<p>

Relena had settled down some hours ago, and had fallen asleep curled against Heero's side, who was awake but had fallen into a stupor. He still had his arm around Relena's form, and he was reluctant to disturb her when she had finally managed to fall asleep.

Eventually, when the clock on the mantelpiece showed some time after one in the morning, Heero twisted his torso slightly to get a better grip around her back and moving his other arm to support her knees, moving smoothly so he stood with her still in his arms. She didn't even stir.

He carried her upstairs to her bedroom and deposited her lightly on her bed before moving around the house, turning off lights and checking to ensure the doors and windows were still locked and bolted.

He did this several times as the night wore on, following a routine to keep himself alert and awake. His night vision was perfect, and oft times he would stand before a window and look out into the street or into Relena's back garden to check for disturbances. The entire street was quiet.

It was around three in the morning, when Heero had finished another sweep through the house and was leaning against the doorframe to the bedroom when Relena stirred. She bolted upright and looked around the room, her eyes wide as she accommodated to the darkness and looked startled. Finally her sweeping gaze found Heero and she relaxed, falling back into a lying position and throwing an arm over her eyes.

"I was dreaming." She said softly, "Lady Une was still alive. She wasn't moving, her eyes were wide open and she was staring at me as she lay on the floor. She didn't speak but I could still feel her calling out to me."

Heero pushed away from the wall and sat down on the floor with one leg crossed and the other risen and his elbow on his knee, leaning back against the bed and keeping his attention on the still hall outside. He'd closed all the doors in the house except for the bedroom door so he could still look out.

"Why was Une there in the first place?" Heero asked, turning slightly to look back at Relena.

Relena let out a humourless laugh, "Her death was supposed to be a... _present_ for me, from Samael." She said drily. "He somehow found out she killed my father, and killed _her _to take revenge in my stead."

Heero looked away, "But you'd forgiven her."

"Evidently Samael didn't know that."

Silence stretched between them as Heero digested this information. It didn't ring quite true with him. It was common knowledge that the Vice Foreign Minister and the Preventers Commander were close friends, deluded as Samael was he didn't strike Heero as the kind of person to be that ignorant.

But Heero had no information on Samael yet; he didn't even who he was until tonight.

"Heero?" Relena said softly, her tone tentative.

"Yeah?"

"I need to ask you something,"

"Hn."

She paused, but then said, "Why were you here tonight?

Heero was reluctant to answer. It wasn't because he thought she wouldn't like the answer, but because he suspected she already knew. The pause stretched and he hoped she was would drop the subject. But, of course, she wouldn't.

"I've known you've been protecting me for two years now, and had been for a few years before that, always in the shadows," she said.

Although he kept his eyes focused on the hall before him he was excruciatingly aware that she had sat up again as she spoke and he could feel her gaze on the back of his head. He didn't look at her; he lowered his gaze and focused on his foot.

"Even though I don't see you; I know when you're there and when you're not."

He felt the bed move as she shifted to lie down behind him, felt the pressure of her forehead against the back of his neck, felt how her breathing tickled him. He didn't react.

"You're there when I'm working away; making a speech or holding a meet. And you're not when I'm at home; or working at the office or," she whispered quietly, but he could hear her perfectly, "When I'm spending some personal time, like going to a party. You prefer to give me my privacy then."

Now he could definitely see where she was going. He noticed his hand curled into a fist and loosened it quickly; the action didn't go unnoticed by Relena.

"I'm glad you were there," she said, and finally she moved away, sitting up on the bed some distance from him, and he was grateful for it. "But I wonder why, when a party hardly constitutes as work."

Heero blinked, her tone formed the question mark in her sentence and was unmistakable. His throat was dry _again_. Could he tell her that he'd actually planned on surprising her by meeting her at the party?

Initially Heero had protected Relena because he knew she was important, that her ideals were not yet set in stone so as the galaxy could continue them without her, she was still relied upon to enact her ideals. At some point without his knowledge, those feelings had shifted to _he_ couldn't get by without _her_. He didn't know when the turning point had come around, but he doubted there was one set instance that changed how he viewed Relena. No doubt, as these things often are, it was a combination of many memorable _and_ unimportant instances.

And, of course, Relena had been in love with him for years now.

They were both aware and strangely comfortable with each other's feelings. However neither acted on them aside from the few and far between displays of intimacy they indulged in every once in a blue moon. Relena had her work which filled her days and her being, and offered her little time for a boyfriend, and Heero was still adjusting to a warless age and trying to leave his rigid training behind. They had never spoken of this, but they seemed to know nevertheless. It worked, for the majority of the time.

Heero was simply content to know there was _someone _alive in the galaxy that he cared about, and Relena respected his wishes to keep a distance.

However, sometimes the distance wasn't enough. Every nine to fourteen months or so, Heero would make himself known to Relena, and they would spend time together. They did nothing on the verge of romantic, just spending time enjoying one another's company. Sometimes Heero would spend a few days with her in the office in the city watching her work, having snippets of conversation with her when time allowed, or he would bring her back to his home in the city and show her whatever project he was working on at the time and let her ask him questions about it and, occasionally, open up about himself.

Somehow- when the attempt on Mareen Darlian's life occurred and Heero shadowing Relena had been revealed- those rare visits became less rare, with a shorter gap from the previous one. Since the reveal, the personal visits had shortened to around three to six months.

With a pang of embarrassment Heero remembered he had hoped, if everything had gone according to plan tonight, to return to this room with her, albeit with different intentions in mind. The heat that rose to his face added to his embarrassment, and he fought to control his emotions before they got the better of him. Regardless of what he had planned, the situation was what it was, and any thoughts of initiating some intimacy had to be smothered, at least for now.

Relena's hand settled on his shoulder. "Heero," she began, but she stopped as all of the lights in the house flashed on simultaneously. Heero bolted upright into a standing position and threw Relena a questioning glance.

She said softly, "Security, the lights are designed to turn on all at once if someone hacks the security alarms inside," as she cradled her severely bruised wrist absentmindedly. "Someone else is in the house."

Relena threw herself off the bed and stood beside to the side of the bed as they heard Bernard whining loudly from downstairs, and then barking, and then release a short, sharp squeal of pain.

Relena gasped and her hands flew up to her mouth, and she started moving forward, but Heero stuck his arm out and caught her around the middle and held her close to stop her, "No," he said sharply but quietly, speaking over her equally quiet protests, "I'll go. You hide somewhere until I call for you."

"No!" She exclaimed. Relena looked at him, and there was a fire in her eyes that he recognized from six years ago, when she stood before his Gundam outside her school without a trace of fear, and Heero realized with a bite of irritation that she wasn't going to do as he asked. She never was a cowardly person, and while she had matured in the past four years in the peacetime she still had a reckless streak.

Heero glared at her but she returned it with as much intensity, a silent battle of wills exchanged between their locked gazes.

There were faint sounds of movement downstairs, and Heero's guard faltered. He needed to get Relena to safety and formulate a plan to stop or kill Sol and Luna – for whom else could it be? – And he could not spend the precious seconds fighting her as well.

A growl escaped him unnoticed and he wrenched his gaze away from Relena, pulling the handgun that he'd kept on his hip for the whole night out and clicking off the safety, before grabbing Relena's wrist and moving swiftly to the open door.

Heero crouched low by the doorframe –Relena mimicking his movements beside him- in a position that would enable him to leap up and dive around if he needed to with speed, but he still had a full clip and would use that before closing with either of the intruders. It wouldn't take the deep blue and pale yellow suited antagonists to search downstairs and make their way to the first floor.

Heero ducked his head around the frame and scanned the hall, straining his hearing. They were being extremely quiet. Finally, he could hear the dull muted thuds as they walked up the stairs. Heero hid around the corner again, wishing he'd left the other doors upstairs open as the bedroom was, however it was too late to do anything about it now.

He then began counting mentally, there were fourteen steps from the bottom on the hall to the top, and he ticked down the number of faint thuds until they reached the top. But he could only hear one set of feet...

Three.

Two.

One...

Heero leaned around the doorframe quickly, gripping the frame for balance, and squeezed off one, three, five shots without sighting. Then Heero stood as a flash of pale yellow filled his sight. Pain spread across his arm as Sol landed a kick and Heero felt the gun spin out of his grasp He stumbled backwards but recovered quickly. Sol seemed to forgo the rapier he wielded earlier, however Heero didn't allow that to let him underestimate the taller man.

Sol aimed a punch at Heero who dodged it, angling to Sol's side and lashing out with a kick. It connected and Sol stumbled backwards, Heero followed him, aiming punches and kicks wherever he could. The helmet seemed reinforced, which protected Sol's head from almost every attack, and would make Heero's job much more difficult. With no chance to knock out his opponent he would be forced to fight until one of them grew too tired to continue and would forfeit.

Sol was at least as fast as Heero, and blocked many of his attacks, yet the helmet which protected him also encumbered him somewhat and clearly impaired his vision. Heero picked up on this handicap quickly and took advantage of it, spinning and moving around Sol to stand out of his field of vision and land kicks, punches, anything on Sol before he could dodge.

Sol adapted to this quickly, however, and ran at and grabbed Heero, driving him backwards until they hit a wall and Heero saw stars burst before his eyes as his head slammed back against the wall. Sol took advantage of Heero's daze and threw punch after punch into Heero's stomach.

Punching is an endurance draining attack however, and it wasn't long before Sol stumbled back to regain some breath.

There was a moment of respite as the two watched one another, recovering. It couldn't have been more than five minutes since Bernard had squealed downstairs, and Heero felt sweat bead on his forehead as he breathed deeply, tasting copper on his tongue.

Sol fared far worse, panting quickly and shaking all over, which was strange. It had been hours since they had last fought for those few seconds in the conference building, and Sol was at least as physically fit as Heero was if his speed and strength were any indication. Sol should _not _be in this state already, who looked as though he was ready to collapse.

Heero could see Relena at the corner of his eye, crouched on the other side of the room, across the bed and looking as puzzled as he was. Heero caught Relena's gaze, and a silent exchange passed between them. Relena looked at him questioningly, seeking approval. He nodded once.

Tentatively, Relena stepped forward, forming a triangle with the two fighters.

"...Sol?" She said.

Sol's head snapped to her direction and held there, still panting harshly –the sound was audible if muffled through the helmet- and shaking. He twitched.

"Give up," she said. "We don't want to kill you."

Sol stumbled backwards but said nothing.

"You don't have to keep fighting," she said. "I know you're a good person, deep down. Samael battered me until I cowered with fear and _you _stopped him. You could have left him to continue, but you didn't."

Sol tilted his helmeted head at her and his left arm jerked violently once. Relena seemed to be encouraged that he was listening to her at least, and stepped forward some more as she edged around the bed.

"Samael is a coward," she continued. "He relies on people stronger than him to do his bidding."

Relena moved forward some more, stepping passed Heero and pressing the handgun he had dropped earlier into his hand, where he raised it steadily and carefully aimed at Sol, who's attention was so completely set on Relena's face that the action went unnoticed.

Sol stumbled back as Relena approached him, and Heero cautiously called her name. Relena raised her hand with her index finger pointing up in a clear "wait" gesture, and Heero stayed mute, keeping his gaze sighting down the handgun that was aimed as Sol's helmeted head. He stood no more than five feet from Sol and reinforced helmet or not, there was little that could stop a bullet this close.

"Samael is alone and weak without people like you." Relena edged around Sol, keeping her distance, and he mimicked her movements in an almost trance so he stood straight with his back toward the wide window, his sight directed at Relena unmoving. He seemed to have regained his breath although he still twitched every so often. Heero realized she had moved to give him a clear shot of Sol that would blast him through the windows should he refuse to give up.

"Samael," Relena said with her eyes burning and her chin lifted to meet Sol's gaze, "does not own you."

Sol's breath hitched in his throat, and he was silent. He tilted his head again then, slowly and carefully, reached out and touched his palm lightly to Relena's cheek. _Something_ -although Heero couldn't quite describe what- passed between the two that felt private, personal, and made him slightly ashamed to be watching it.

Relena seemed to catch the atmosphere too; her eyes widened in ... recognition?

A faint click broke through the silence, a click that resounded near the jaw line of Sol's helmet, and a quiet hiss of a radio permitted through the air.

"I ... I'm sorry," said Sol.

Relena gasped and stepped back away from Sol, and Heero's eyes widened also. The voice was deep, deeper than anything a human could produce naturally, and had a mechanical edge to it although that could bit attributed to the radio he spoke through.

However, there was still something unmistakably familiar about it.

Then, Sol folded at the stomach and he shook hard, his knees bending. The radio in his helmet was still on and they could hear his grunts and gasps of pain loudly and clearly. The air crackled with static around him. A thump resounded from him in a pace, it sounded like a heartbeat.

"I'm sorry," he said again, this time with an edge of desperation lining his words and Heero was suddenly unsure if he was talking to them or to someone in his radio.

The thrumming heartbeat sped up.

"Relena, get back," Heero said quickly and she complied; darting to his side. He pushed her behind him, and began moving backwards, keeping the handgun aimed steady at Sol.

Then, the static faded and the heartbeat ceased and Sol's arms hung loose before him as he was bent double. The radio turned off also, plunging the house into a deafening silence.

Suddenly Sol straightened like a stringed puppet, turned, and sped across the room with an unnatural speed. Heero fired the handgun without stopping reflexively but Sol seemed to dodge each and every single one of them with an air as if he knew where Heero would be firing before _he_ did.

_Thump, thump, thump, thump._

Pain exploded between Heero's eyes, his chest, and his arms. His arms went numb, he couldn't breathe and his vision flashed white.

_Thump, thump, thump._

Pain rammed Heero backwards as he was struck across the face three times in rapid succession with a speed and strength that left Heero dumb. He could hear Relena screaming, but she was so far away...

_THUMP-THUMP!_

_Crack!_

Heero felt at least a couple of ribs giving away under two more attacks. He still couldn't see.

His awareness was fading but he could barely sense he'd stumbled back into the hall. He shook his head vigorously to clear it but it seemed to merely make him sluggish, although he did gain some of his sight back. Every time inhaled breath a sharp stabbing pain punctured his lungs. He tried to breathe shallowly but adrenaline was still flooding through his system and he felt like wasn't getting enough air.

Multicoloured stars danced in his vision as Sol walked steady toward him. Time had slowed unbearably as Heero raised the handgun.

Sol stopped to consider him.

But the handgun wasn't in his grasp anymore. Where had it gone?

Sol tilted his head to the side, and then gracefully spun to deal a high side kick.

_CRACK!_

The hit connected at his ear with force, and he was thrown sideways.

Heero dozily expected the floor to meet him, but there was only the stairs. He tumbled down them haphazardly, feeling his shoulder dislocate and his elbow twist painfully as his arm caught in the banister and broke before he fell all the way down.

He smacked his head against the floor, and finally faded out of consciousness.

* * *

><p>Sol reached Heero with unnatural speed as the gun banged and flashed seven times, the noise so close to Relena's ears that she felt a ringing in them. But Sol dodged each shot, <em>how was that possible?<em>

Heero shoved Relena aside as Sol drew close and she stumbled until she hit the floor, landing painfully on her bruised wrist. Pain fired up her arm instantly and she screamed in pain against her will. She ignored the pain as much as she could and looked around for Heero. Sol was punching him in a series of dull _cracks_ and _thumps_ with a vicious speed and driving him backwards.

"Heero!" Relena called, scrambling up to her knees. Her eyes were drawn to the handgun that lay discarded at the door frame behind Sol, who was still pushing Heero back with furious jabs and kicks. She picked up the handgun and hurried to the bedroom door, her hair flying in her face.

She ran through the door, but Sol was spinning and kicking Heero, another loud _CRACK_ resounded with a sickening jolt, and Heero flew out of sight and down the stairs. More sickening _thuds_ and _thumps_ followed.

"NO!" Relena cried hoarsely as she pushed passed the prone Sol, who stood at the top of the stairs and let her, his attention focused entirely on Heero.

Heero had landed in the hall on his left side, his left arm twisted strangely around his back and a huge knot that Relena couldn't recognize stuck out of his shoulder. Blood leaked from his mouth, his nose, and his ears. Huge red welts appeared on his arms and legs as she kneeled beside him, not knowing what to do or if disturbing him would do more harm. His eyes were open, staring unseeing as Lady Une had.

_He's not dead._ She prayed with tears streaming down her face. _He can't be._

She touched his right hand as it laid palm-down on the carpeted floor; the only part of him that looked remotely safe to touch.

Sol's heavy footfalls on the stairs distracted her. Relena looked at him and stood up hastily; standing in front of Heero and raising the handgun in her unsteady grasp, "Get back!" she called out uselessly, glaring and conveying all of her hate.

Sol stopped at the bottom of the stairs, three feet away from Relena and Heero. The radio at his jaw clicked on again, and that strange hum permitted the air. "My orders are to bring you to Samael and kill the villain," his deep voice rumbled. It sounded different from earlier, and the thread of recognition she'd gleamed before was gone. She didn't know this person at all. "I would prefer to do so without hurting you. Step aside."

Relena shook her head sharply, "You'll have to kill me first."

Sol inclined his head, tilting it, and sighed melodramatically. He then lifted his arm and Relena noticed an unusual appliance strapped to his wrist, he pressed a couple of buttons on it and stuck his arm out to his side. A beam of light stretched from his wrist to the floor, where a holographic image fizzled into life.

Relena gasped.

Luna's image appeared as solid as though she was actually standing there; she had her own arm lifted as she peered down into a screen on her wrist. Then, she turned to face Sol, Relena and the still Heero. She was holding a rapier, with another one was fastened to a belt at her waist.

A series of clicks, screeches and other strange noises emanated from Sol's helmet, and Luna nodded in comprehension. She walked to the side and her image disappeared as if she had walked through a wall. There was a sound of a struggle, and Luna reappeared.

A hand left the gun involuntarily and flew to Relena's mouth in shock, she began to shake violently.

Mareen Darlian looked exhausted, her prim clothes were rumpled as if she had been crouched for a long time and her stance was awkward, as though standing was painful for her. Her hair had come loose in places from her elegant bun, and there was a scrape across her cheek. Otherwise, she looked unharmed.

"Mother," She whispered softly.

Mareen didn't seem to hear her, and her mouth was moving as if speaking, although sluggishly, and Relena vaguely understood that the hologram was in image only, and that Sol communicated with Luna through a long range distance radio of some sort. The image held for a moment, and then Luna was shoving Mareen out of view again before the image faded.

Sol lowered his arm limp back at his side.

"We can kill you in more ways than one, Relena Peacecraft," Sol said. "I would prefer not to."

Relena turned to Sol, feeling utterly defeated. They had taken her adoptive mother, they had beaten Heero and they had killed Lady Une. Three important pillars in Relena's life, three people whom she relied upon more than any of them ever knew, were toppling. How much longer could she continue pushing forward without the people she cared for the most, who were her driving force in everything she did?

Relena had never felt more tired in her life than she did right now. Depression sunk its withered fangs painfully slowly into her core. She was looking at Sol but she had lost her focus, she couldn't see.

What future was there for her? If she stepped aside she would save her mother but kill Heero, if she refused she would save Heero but kill her mother.

Sol was talking but she couldn't hear him. The black pit that earlier had threatened to engulf her was back once again, and once again she sunk without the will to save herself.

She looked back at Heero, the handgun hanging loosely in her grip by her side. His bright, dark blue eyes stared without seeing.

Relena suddenly had a vision of Heero standing outside of the Gundam Zero One's cockpit, a detonator clutched in one hand. She remembered watching the feed on television, where Oz had opened a channel from one of the broken mobile suits in the area to show the Colonies and the Earth that a Gundam could be defeated.

_Mission accepted._ He had said, and pressed the button. Zero One had exploded, taking Heero with it.

Relena blinked, looking away from Heero as another option dawned upon her. She looked at Sol, squaring her jaw and drawing her eyebrows together in a frown. Sol paused in his stream of talk. She hadn't listened to a word he had been saying, but it didn't matter.

Relena raised the handgun's muzzle to her temple, and squeezed the trigger ever so slightly. If Sol was to startle her at all, she would squeeze it the rest of the way reactively. Sol seemed to realize this as well and froze. He waited for Relena to speak.

Relena took a deep breath to steel her nerves, and then said, "Luna is going to take my mother to the Preventers, and she is to arrive there unharmed. You will give medical aid to Heero so he is stable and then you will call for an ambulance." Relena's hand balled into a fist. "Then, you can take me to Samael. He wouldn't need to know that Heero is alive."

Sol was silent for several long minutes and Relena had to fight to stop herself from shaking, the effort to keep the precious pressure on the trigger was more arduous than she thought.

"Very well," he said at last. "Luna is taking Mareen Darlian to the Preventers. I will stabilize your guard while we wait."

Relena was loathing doing so, but she stepped away from Heero, allowing Sol to kneel down beside him.

"Might I ask," Sol asked in a careful tone before starting, "What would you do if your guard could not be stabilized?"

"I would pull the trigger," she said, surprised at how emotionless she sounded.

"But if you did, we would have no further need of Mareen Darlian, and we could kill her." Sol said, looking at her acutely.

Ice speared into Relena's heart and she fought to control her expression. She shrugged and said in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner, "What would that matter to a dead person? I think you'd better concentrate on stabilizing Heero than asking me inane questions."

Sol grunted, and began attending to Heero.

Relena watched over him attentively. Sol was clearly absorbed in his work to stabilize Heero; he moved the younger man carefully, popping his dislocated shoulder back into its socket first before moving him, muttering to himself as applied the slightest pressures here and there to check for the extent of the damage.

When he asked, Relena gave Sol directions to the kitchen where he could find a first aid kit. Then, Sol removed Heero's shirt carefully and began mopping up the blood that oozed from various cuts and scratches, binding them in bandages. The minutes stretched as Sol worked slowly and deliberately.

Relena felt her heart hammer in her chest as she watched him pass his gloved hand over Heero's eyes to close them, "Don't worry, he is alive." He said, but Relena swallowed thickly around a ball in her throat nevertheless.

When Sol finally stood up and took several steps backwards, he indicated for Relena to check his handiwork, "Does he meet your standard?" he said in a light tone.

"Go stand in the kitchen while I find out," she said firmly.

Sol inclined his head and did as she bided, saying as he moved "I did what I could on what I could see. He'll probably have some internal injuries that will need attending to."

When he was out of sight, Relena finally lowered the gun and rubbed at her sore arm. Then, she kneeled beside Heero. She moved to hold his hand and with her other hand she checked for his pulse with two fingers. She was shaking, but she could feel the steady pulse. She sighed with relief.

Sol had done a good job considering the tools he had been given, however Heero still looked as defeated and broken as she'd ever seen him. There were dark red welts all over him, and his left arm was clearly broken from the small bump as a bone protruded under the skin. One cheek was swollen and red, and in some areas he was already bruising. There were dark bags under his now closed eyes as she swept her fingers through his bangs, moving them aside. She bent to kiss Heero on the forehead.

"I'm sorry," she whispered softly to him. "This is all I can do for you. Please survive."

Relena thought back to everything he had been through in the Eve Wars and the Mariemaia incident, and hope filled her weakly fluttering heart as she thought _maybe_ he could survive this too. Although she despaired at how much had had gone through already.

_He's only nineteen, and already he's gone through more than most people ever do._ She thought sadly. _So have I, for that matter._

It had been possibly a minute since Sol had left them, and so she stood, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hands. "What's Luna's progress?" She called out.

Sol stepped back out from the kitchen, and wordlessly began fiddling with the device on his wrist again, there was a moment of silence before Sol aimed his wrist again and another image flared.

This time, it showed the Preventer HQ from a distance. Fresh snow was falling, which looked strange on the hologram. Relena watched as her mother was talking with some officials at the front of the building, gesticulating wildly and looking distressed.

The image shook and turned violently, and then Luna's head and shoulders filled the hologram. The hologram deepened in colour, as if Luna was standing in darkness. "It's done," her voice rang out, similar to Sol's but definitely feminine. "Now it's your turn, Relena Peacecraft."

The image was cut.

Relena nodded. "Fine, move Heero into the living room and put him on the couch before you call for the ambulance."

Sol inclined his head again, and once again followed her orders. He was careful as he picked up Heero, "Might I add," He asked, "that you change into some warmer clothes. I cannot have you freezing to death when we leave."

"Fine," she said irritated before racing upstairs.

She changed quickly, throwing on the nearest set of clothes she could grab, which happened to be her work clothes, with the embroidered jacket and pants and shiny boots. As an afterthought, she ran a comb through her hair and threw it up into a high ponytail, her now longer bangs framing her face and brushing into her eyes.

She threw a distressed glance around her room, noticing the chaos that Heero and Sol's fight had ensued. The bed was skewed, ornaments were lying broken on the floor and her dressing table was lying on its side, the mirror broken into several pieces. She looked into the mirror and caught her reflection displayed in multiple frames. She looked dishevelled and strained, she wasn't surprised.

She grabbed the handgun that she had discarded onto the bed, and raced back downstairs. Gripping the handgun tightly in one hand, she peered cautiously into the living room.

Sol stood by the telephone in the far corner of the room; she spared him only a slight glance before looking for Heero, who had been deposited carefully onto the deep sofa. He looked as though he might have been sleeping, if not for the bandages and the wounds.

Her eyes registered a large white shape, and she made out Bernard lying sprawled in his basket. She ran and dropped to her knees beside him, touching his moving side with relief. She puzzled as to why Sol had merely knocked Bernard out instead of killing him, but she wasn't about to question him out loud. If everything progressed as she hoped, no one else would die tonight.

Sol had been speaking into the loudspeaker on the phone and was finishing the brief call when Relena had fallen to Bernard's side. "The emergency services are on their way," he announced.

Relena nodded, "Then we'd better leave before they get here." She said.

"Indeed," Sol agreed.

Relena stood, still clutching the handgun tightly, watching Sol carefully and keeping her distance in case he made a sudden move. As Sol moved out of the living room and to the front door, Relena took one last look at Heero, taking courage in his strength and his survivability.

* * *

><p>Samael sat in darkness in his private shuttle; the roaring activity that was his mind was soothed when he relaxed in pitch black. His elbow rested comfortably on the arm rest of his chair and he swirled a glass of wine gently, the rhythmic motion soothing the swirl of activity that ensnared his mind.<p>

Samael had not slept all night. _Oh_ no! He had been far too anxious to do so, and he was feeling rather wired. Classical music sang its way through the cabin, and Samael stood and swayed and danced in time with the undulations, feeling excitement tickle his fingertips and heat rise to his cheeks.

A console sat opposite him, and two lights flashed and a melodic beep hummed in time with the yellow and blue flashes. Samael smiled inwardly; Sol and Luna were coming home, no doubt they would have his dearest Relena with them.

Some moments ago, there had been a hiccup. A program installed within Sol and Luna's suits had detected a moment of doubt, a moment where one or both of them considered defecting.

Of course, they thought about it a lot -mostly when he punished them- however neither had the power to act upon those fevered desires. While one lived the other was powerless. Nevertheless, one of them had become close to actually doing it, but all it took was a slight automated boost in their –ah- _medicine_ and all thoughts of disloyalty left them!

On an ordinary day, Samael would have derived quite a lot of pleasure in punishing them both for one's slipup, but today was no ordinary day, and he was feeling charitable. Also, while he was quite sure he had wooed Relena and won her affections, he didn't want to scare her by electrocuting his guards.

Sometime later, when the lights in the shuttle were on and Samael had spent some considerable time brightening his appearance and hiding the evidence of his exhaustion, the lights on the console beeped and flashed again. Samael twirled in line with the music, and headed to the shuttle door.

He had a magnificent view of the airstrip and a car, no doubt stolen, cruised along the side of the strip. He could just about see Sol and – his heart skipped a beat – Relena sitting in the front seats through the darkness.

A wide smile stretched across his thin features as he descended the stairs leading to the shuttle with dignity, by the time he reached the bottom the car had halted and the trio had exited the vehicle. They proceeded toward the shuttle, Relena walking freely in the middle and Sol and Luna walking just behind her, as though they were her bodyguards.

Well, he _supposed_ he could share them.

Samael chuckled, "My dear! I'm so glad you made your way back to me!" He said dramatically, throwing his arms out wide.

The lovely Relena paused about ten feet away from him, the most peculiar expression on her beautifully young face, and she raised an arm holding something in her hand.

A gun?

_BANG – BANG – BANG!_

Three shots fired, but Relena was no marksman and they went wide. Samael cried out, flinging his arms over his head and cowering.

The fog!

Oh Gods _the fog was returning_!

Samael made a low keening sound in his throat as he rocked backwards and forwards to bind him to his senses, the black fog was descending over his eyes but –_but!-_ if he could just keep control, he wouldn't be blinded.

There was a sound of scuffling ahead of him but Samael blocked it out, concentrating furiously, focusing on a stone that the snow hadn't covered that lay before him and using it as an anchor point. He could feel the ringing drawing closer in his ears and he keened louder to shut it out.

Minutes, hours, days passed, Samael didn't know how long but, eventually, he was able to stop the fog's descent. He stopped wailing and breathed deeply and slowly, almost daring the fog to return so he could flaunt his control over it.

However, he knew it was reckless to will its return. He could control it once every so often, but multiple descents were impossible to hold back. _That_ was what made him such a wonderful person, he knew his weakness –for he had only one- and he could control it.

To an extent.

Then, acting as though he hadn't had an episode, he stood and spread his arms out once more, smiling tightly that looked more like a grimace.

Relena stood in between Sol and Luna, as she had before, only this time she didn't have a gun, and perhaps she looked slightly more ruffled than earlier. Had she fired at him at all? Did he imagine the gun?

Doubt gripped him. It was possible.

He laughed uncertainly before plunging ahead and renewing his posture with extra vigour as he strode forward. He stopped before Relena, his eyes roving around her face, her body...

She had even dressed appropriately for him, wearing the clothes he had first met her in! Oh this _must_ be as special a night for her as it was for him!

Rejoicing at her approval of him, he hugged her tightly, cradling her beautiful head against his collar and swaying gently. She was stiff in his hold, but that was okay too, she would take time to adjust to their new relationship. They all did.

Samael stepped away from her, holding her gloved hands delicately in his own.

"My dear, sweet, Relena; welcome to the first day of the rest of your life!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN**: Thanks for your interest in this series thus far, gang. C: I'd love to hear what your ideas and impressions are of it so far. Critique and reviews are appreciated as always!


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